Curran at the double

Warrenpoint Town 2-4 Cliftonville

Ryan Curran netted twice as Cliftonville got the better of Warrenpoint Town in an absorbing Danske Bank Premiership contest at Milltown this afternoon.

The Reds looked to be in cruise control when Curran finished off Ronan Doherty’s assist to make it 2-0 just minutes after Levi Ives’ early opener, but the hosts roared back to level before half-time through Simon Byrne and a Jonny Addis own goal.

Both sides threw everything into their search for a winner in the second-half and it was Cliftonville who emerged with the points thanks firstly to Curran’s thumping header from Ives’ corner – in what was a carbon copy of his goal against the Point at Solitude back in September – before Daniel Kearns’ late lob wrapped things up.

Cliftonville’s day could barely have got off to a better start with Ives blasting in the opener with just two minutes on the clock when he raced into the area to connect with the low Jamie McDonagh cross which had evaded Joe Gormley.

Ives then played a key role in the Reds doubling their advantage soon later with a ball in behind the Point defence which Doherty did well to control before teeing up Curran to stroke in.

As is so often the case in football, however, the two-goal margin appeared to encourage the visitors towards a comfort zone and, with plenty of time to retrieve the situation, Warrenpoint set about reducing the arrears with their reward coming when Byrne finished off a spot of head tennis inside the box.

Luke Turner saw an opportunity to make it 3-1 charged down by Byrne before Town drew level courtesy of an unfortunate touch from Addis, who knocked an Alan O’Sullivan cross into his own net.

O’Sullivan went close to putting Point in front with a fierce drive across the face of goal before half-time and, having been somewhat relieved to see the interval come along, Cliftonville were much more composed following the turnaround.

Though clear-cut chances were difficult to come by, the Reds looked most likely to grab the contest’s next goal and that proved to be the case as Curran powered Ives’ corner delivery past Conor Mitchell.

An excellent last-ditch intervention from Ives stopped O’Sullivan making it 3-3 and, after Mitchell had repelled a McDonagh strike, the visitors made sure of the points when Ives’ header allowed Kearns to spring the offside trap and he duly lifted the ball over the advancing keeper and into the empty net.

Cliftonville: Dunne, Ives, C Curran, R Curran, McDonagh (McDermott, 87 mins), Lowe, A Donnelly, Addis, Doherty (Foster, 77 mins), Gormley (Coates, 87 mins), Turner. Unused subs: O Donnelly, Casey, Morgan.